The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Kent School cleared of negligence for student bicycle crash in 2016
KENT — The family of Danilo Bracho is coping with a jury verdict earlier this month that found Kent School blameless for the 2016 bike crash that severely injured the now former student.
David Bracho said the outcome of the trial has devastated his brother, who was in a coma for at least two months, underwent more than 20 surgeries, and sustained serious, long-term injuries in the accident.
“He’s broken,” David Bracho said about his brother, who is now in his early 20s and lives in upstate New York.
The ruling came after several years of litigation that started in 2018, when Danilo Bracho’s mother filed the federal lawsuit against the school after her son crashed into a tree during a school-sponsored bike ride two years earlier.
The family accused the private, co-educational college preparatory school of improperly training, outfitting and supervising Bracho, who was 15 at the time and suffered organ damage, a brain hemorrhage, a broken arm and leg, and other injuries in the accident, according to the lawsuit.
Michael Hirschfeld, head of Kent School, said in a statement Monday that the school “takes seriously the safety and well-being of its students” and is “grateful that the jury recognized this unfortunate accident was not due to any negligence by the school.”
Danilo Bracho was injured during a school-sponsored event on April 21, 2016, after failing to navigate a tight curve midway down a steep hill on Bulls Bridge Road and colliding with a tree, according to court documents.
In the lawsuit, the Bracho family argued the teen’s injuries were caused by the school’s negligence, that the school failed to inform him fully about the risks, failed to supervise him properly and allowed him to use an “unsafe” bike.
The Kent School required all students to enroll in an outdoor activity, according to the lawsuit, and Danilo Bracho signed up for road biking.
He did not have his own bike and helmet as required for the activity, but the English teacher and activity overseer loaned him a pre-owned De Bernardi Italian bicycle, according to court documents.
Not only was the bike the wrong size for the teen’s height and weight, but it was poorly maintained, “in addition to being an old frame with old parts,” the Bracho family claimed.
The family also claimed the bike had “an unsafe design” for the teen, who lacked road biking experience — and that his inexperience was “made apparent to (the teacher) when, during Danilo’s first ride both tires on the bike flatted, and during his second ride one or both of the tires flatted again.”
The teen was airlifted to a hospital in Hartford following the crash, which was reported by a delivery driver who found the injured teen and called 911, according to his brother.
According to court documents, Bracho had fallen behind other student bikers during the ride along Bulls
Bridge Road.
David Bracho said his family rushed to the hospital after learning that Danilo had been in an accident.
“They called and said you have to come to Hartford urgently. He had a tragic accident and is in the intensive care unit,” he said. “Just like that, from one second to the next, the whole family was in shambles and everyone went there.”
When his brother was released from the hospital after nearly three months, David Bracho said he moved back to Portugal to live with his mother and attended a small private school there.
He said his brother not only lost partial and complete ability to move some parts of his body as a result of the accident, but a lot of time as well.
“He didn’t get to go to university at the time he was supposed to enter,” David Bracho said. “But he put a lot of effort into his recovery, managed to finish his studies with good grades and was accepted to Holy Cross.”
Bracho’s family sought more than $75,000 in damages
through the lawsuit, but received nothing after a jury ruled in favor of Kent School on July 16, finding the school in no way negligent or responsible for the 2016 crash.
David Bracho said the lawsuit was not about money, but justice — and he doesn’t believe it was served.
His brother, he said, was so disappointed by the outcome of the trial that he withdrew from the university
he worked hard to get into.
David Bracho said his family is not only disappointed with Kent School for “taking no accountability whatsoever” for what happened to his brother, but the legal system as well.
“The negligence, as our lawyer said, was proven in court. The breach of duty and negligence was proven in court, and the result is just inexplicable,” he said.